While dogs often lock eyes with us, their brains may not process faces the way human brains do. A groundbreaking study indicates that dogs' visual systems are wired differently, suggesting the primate facial network doesn't extend to all mammals.
Faces are central to communication in humans and other primates, with specialized brain regions like the fusiform face area lighting up specifically for them. Dogs show interest in faces too, but they likely lack these dedicated zones.
Bunford, Hernández-Pérez, and colleagues used fMRI to scan human and dog brains during short videos of human and dog faces versus backs of heads. Humans displayed strong face preference—greater activity for faces over backs—and some regions favored human faces over dogs. Dogs, however, only showed species preference, with more activity for fellow dogs than humans, but no difference between faces and backs of heads.
